So where was I, oh I know, just leaving Dalemain... When I had been talking about my proposed trip my mother had said to me 'will you go and see Long Meg and her daughters'?; to which at the time I had thought probably not. Yet as I was having lunch at Dalemain I looked where Long Meg was and she was sort of on the way back to the cottage I was staying in. Sort of, if you take a longish loop around.
Ahem, I hear some of you say, how much of a garden is a stone circle? Well, not at all in reality, but hey, my blog my rules.
Long Meg and her daughters is a neolithic stone circle, apparently one of the widest in England. I was going to say I have never visited a stone circle before, I always say this, forgetting totally I have been to Stonehenge some years ago. I have driven past a few stone circles, the one on the outskirts of Porthmadog I drive past frequently and yet I have never stopped. (Apparently the Porthmadog circle is a modern creation but that is not why I have never stopped, its just somewhere I am always going somewhere else and think next time..... which is not a good reason for anything).
There are reasons for this seeming avoidance of these circles, or should I say 'a' reason....... Children of the Stones.... from back in the day when childrens' tv was proper scarey. Well, it scared me. I actually have this on DVD and even as an adult I still find it disturbing.
Anyhoo, the upshot of this is that whilst I was happy to visit: I walked around the circle clockwise, because widdershins is always a bad idea. I also could not walk into the circle I had to stay around the outside. I need to mention, the people who were there when I was, were quite independently doing exactly the same. I did not see anyone enter the circle.
and before you laugh as if this is all nonsense - this stone has clearly moved!
Long Meg herself seems to have a largish nose,
and swirly ancient carvings,
and graffitti - probably old graffitti, but still... Mr Scott - tut tut.
and I found a stone-seed- from this a new stone will grow......
Then I set off for the cottage where I was staying, and I nearly went straight there except I got distracted by a sign post - more of which another time.
